The invention relates to a process cartridge that is capable of being used with an image forming apparatus.
As a charger of a conventional image forming apparatus, a scorotron charger as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3198917 is used. This charger is structured such that a charging wire is laid across the frame to perform corona discharge between the wire and an electrode plate and to charge a photosensitive member using positive or negative ions created by the corona discharge.
Recently, a size reduction of the image forming apparatus has be en demanded. Thus, for a smaller-size image forming apparatus, a size reduction of the charger is also required. However, Japanese Patent No. 3198917 does not disclose any technology to reduce the size of the charger. In Japanese Patent No. 3198917, a longitudinal direction of a tense portion of the charging wire is parallel to a direction of a centerline of a coil spring portion. Thus, if a stable tension is given to the charging wire, the number of turns of the coil spring portion may increase, the length in the longitudinal direction may become longer, and a structure will be unfit for reducing the size of the charger or the image forming apparatus.